prepain
prepain noun: a physical sensation that is not pain but would become pain if it were more intense.
Noun
prepain (uncountable)
- A physical sensation that is not pain but would become pain if it were more intense.
- Mostly the subjects experienced either no sensation at all, or pain; only a very small prepain range was found (a just noticeable tactile sensation, as described in Chapter 27).1984, Burkhart Bromm, Pain Measurement in Man: Neurophysiological Correlates of Pain, page 443
- You can learn what to do at the first signals of prepain and thereby avoid the true disability that accompany a fullblown attack.2016, Mary Pullig Schatz, Back Care Basics
Adjective
prepain (comparative more prepain, superlative most prepain)
- Before the onset of pain.
- Assessment of prepain functioning often provides insights into behavioral, cognitive, and affective responses subsequent to pain onset.1983, Dennis C. Turk, Donald Meichenbaum, Myles Genest, Pain and Behavioral Medicine: A Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective, page 202
- After a diagnosis of pain has been made, the critical care nurse organizes nursing interventions around three categories: prepain experience, actual pain experience, and postpain experience.1986, Sharon L. Roberts, Behavioral Concepts and the Critically Ill Patient, page 15
Examples of prepain in a sentence
- As described above, pain and prepain are the only sensations that can be evoked by intradental nerve stimulation in human subjects.2002, Kenneth M. Hargreaves, Harold E. Goodis, Seltzer and Bender's Dental Pulp, page 168:
- Even in trained normal subjects, the pain threshold, where prepain becomes just noticeably painful, is a composite of nuances and is difficult to judge.2012, Winston C.V. Parris, Contemporary Issues in Chronic Pain Management, page 138:
Forms of prepain
| comparative | more prepain |
|---|---|
| superlative | most prepain |
Origin of prepain
From pre- + pain.
Questions about prepain
- What does prepain mean?
- Prepain means a physical sensation that is not pain but would become pain if it were more intense.
- How do you use prepain in a sentence?
- As described above, pain and prepain are the only sensations that can be evoked by intradental nerve stimulation in human subjects.
- What part of speech is prepain?
- Prepain can be a noun or an adjective.
Words near prepain in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prepain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “prepain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prepain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.